Perfecting last lines is of upmost importance for flash writers since endings are often what readers will remember most about a short short story. If you fail to deliver, readers may not come back for more. But how do you "nail" it? In a Guardian interview, flash writer David Gaffney states that a story's last line "should leave the reader with something which will continue to sound after the story has finished. It should not complete the story but rather take us into a new place; a place where we can continue to think about the ideas in the story and wonder what it all meant."[1] As a student and beginning writer of flash, I find Gaffney's advice inspirational and am experimenting with new ways to make my last lines "ring like a bell."

To do so, I like to use allusions--a reference to another literary or historical person, place, or event without explicit identification[2]--in my final sentences. For example, in "The Ghost of Natalie Wood," which was recently published in Red Door Magazine, the last line evolved from one that fell flat to a sentence that (I hope) makes readers think. Here is the original ending:

I slid the tights off, reached for my pants. I heard a thud against the door after it closed behind me. One of these might have smashed against it: ashtray, white leather pump, belly-up fish. I exited the hotel, adjudged to be free of her.

In the above, "adjudged" feels forced and the ending completes the story without taking the reader to a new place. I revised the sentence, developing a new last line that attempts to have more impact than the original version did:

I slid the tights off, reached for my pants. I heard a thud against the door after it closed behind me. One of these might have smashed against it: ashtray, white leather pump, belly-up fish. I exited the hotel as Eva shouted from a window above, "There's a place for us...somewhere a place for us."

The new closing sentence depicts Eva, who is dressed up as Natalie Wood, shouting Maria's (played by Wood) famous words from West Side Story. As the reader learns in the story, Eva chases a fantasy, and as a result she drives away her lover Steven; yet, even as he is leaving her, she's too enthralled in her role-playing to break character. I wrote the last line aiming to surprise readers and to give them something to wonder about after they finish reading it. For example, they might think: what did Eva look for in a relationship--a sense of excitement? Could it be fulfilled? Do I ever do that in real life, setting myself up for disappoint or heartbreak?

Here's another example of when I used an allusion to produce what I hope is a thought-provoking last sentence from my flash story "Precession":

Hands trembling, Neil removed the goggles. He felt unsteady, as if the earth had spun off its axis. Had he succeeded in proving Hugh's theory? Wincing with pain, he looked down to see that his ankle was starting to swell.

In the story, Neil's deceased father Hugh is the inventor of the many-worlds theory and created a way to access memories from parallel universes. Hugh believed that for every event that happened, the universe splits so that an alternate event would take place in a different dimension. He invented wearable computer goggles to help Neil find him alive in parallel realities. However, things go wrong when Neil watches his father die in universe after universe and starts to see his shadow in the memories--as if by watching the other realities through the gadget he becomes apart of them. The last line reflects this and explains how virtual traveling affects Neil psychically. His swollen ankle references Oedipus, who Neil mentions briefly in the beginning of the story. In Ancient Greek, Oedipus means "swollen foot,"[3] and like Oedipus Neil kills his father in a parallel dimension after he watches him suffer repeatedly. By the end of the story, Neil has to live with the memory of what he's done, and his swollen ankle shows how real his father's invention turns out to be psychically and psychologically. In "Precession," I wrote an ending that prompts readers to wonder if technological advancements have repercussions. Specifically they might ask: how does technology shape the psyche? Can Neil detach from the overtly violent and emotional experience he had from the virtual otherworld computer algorithm?

Many of my ideas for flash come from questions that don't have easy answers. While I'm still new to writing short short stories, I would like to keep at it, refine my approach, and develop new ways to inspire readers to think deeply about existential and timely themes. Last lines are crucial to do this well, and using allusions are one way to craft final sentences that "ring like a bell."

You, too, can be brave and incorporate this approach in your flash fiction by referencing in your ending sentences art, theater, literature, history, philosophy, current events, or other subjects that make your readers think. Allusions will deliver impact, take readers to a new place, and pack in more meaning than a neatly tied up conclusion could offer readers. When done well, you may even surprise yourself at what you can accomplish by adding allusions to your last lines.

Bibliography

Abrams, M.H. and Geoffrey Galt Harpham. "Allusion" in A Glossary of Literary Terms,

Ninth Edition. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009.

Gaffney, David. "Stories in Your Pocket: How to Write Flash Fiction." The Guardian,

Tiffany Sumner is a flash fiction writer, aspiring novelist, and degree-candidate in Rosemont College's MFA in Creative Writing Program. Earlier this year, she relocated to Philadelphia by way of Brooklyn and is earning a living writing about shoes, mobile apps, education and taxes. Yes, taxes. She is a contributing fiction writer for Red Door Magazine and a pretty a-okay cook. Originally from Virginia, Tiffany lives in South Philly with her boyfriend and their two cats--Stitches and Madame Snugglewhiskers. Learn more about Tiffany on her blog Roja ChaCha.

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